Influence of Teachers‟ Demographic Characteristics on Acquisition of Reading Skills Among Grade III Pupils In Kisii County, Kenya

Abstract

Reading is a fundamental skill in pupils’ education and development.. The development of reading skills is a complex intellectual process that requires skilled instructions in learning to read and to developing strong reading skills. Teachers are well-known as the backbone of the educational process and also as the major determining school factor of excellence and efficiency of its outcome. The purpose of this study was to find out the influence of teachers’ demographic characteristics on the acquisition of reading skills among Standard three pupils in Kisii County. Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory of Human Learning guided this study. This study adopted a descriptive survey research design targeting all the Grade III pupils, their class teachers and head teachers of all primary schools in Kenyenya Sub-County. Purposive and stratified random sampling techniques were employed to select the study sample of 30%. The data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedule and observation schedule.A pupils test was used to ascertain the reading levels among the Class three Pupils. This study found out that teachers’ characteris tics had influence on the acquisition of reading skills. The study further established that most of the class III teachers had limited training on teaching reading skills. The study thus recommends that the Ministry of Education should train and retrain teachers on teaching reading skills through regular teacher professional training, in-service courses, workshops and seminars to ensure that teachers have the necessary skills to teach reading at lower levels.